The present invention refers in general to methods of coloring materials; and in particular, to an improved method for producing decorative fabric.
For literally thousands of years, dyes have been utilized to color and decorate fabrics. While dyes have been improved over these years and are easily obtainable and commercially available, the process through which such fabrics are dyed today remains relatively close to the manner in which they were dyed years ago throughout history.
More recently, as of the 1960's, a somewhat different dyeing technique has evolved. Tie-dyeing involves the clumping of a mass of material together with the binding of this clump to vary the amount of dye entering into the clump during the dyeing operation. Through such a dyeing technique, a radiating web is produced and the process continues to be used today for decorative purposes especially in the area of men and women's wearing apparel.
With either of the dyeing methods used to date, namely, that of bulk dyeing where an entire article is dyed one color by merely submerging the entire article in a dye solution; tye-dyeing as described above; and hand drawing where a design is actually painted by hand onto a fabric, it is often very difficult to control the degree of absorption with which the dye is taken by the fabric. For example, in hand painting, the coloring material (whether being a dye or not) may flow onto the fabric and stay at only the points at which it is deposited, while in other cases, diffusion between the material and liquid being deposited may distort the actual design being sought. The coloring material may often run, bleed or radiate in capillary fashion from a desired design parameter.
When utilizing a multitude of dyes and colors, it is also very difficult to control the boundaries between each the overlapping different colors, intensities or shades or to acquire an almost three-dimensional effect in two dimensions especially with a cellular-like design.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to describe a method of producing a decorative fabric which is relatively inexpensive and which provides for the producer a great degree of control over the placement and absorption of the coloration being used.
It is further an object of the present invention to facilitate the production of a design having three dimensional qualities embodied by a two-dimensional object which is capable of being used on fabric in a numerous variety of applications including upholstery, fabric wall decorations and wearing apparel.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a unique coloring and processing technique capable of producing an interesting and exotic decorative fabric design which is not capable of being achieved through conventional dyeing techniques, which at the same time provides a method for such production which is clearly adaptable to machine production.
These and other aspects of the inventive process will become apparent in light of the present specification.